The latter years of the 2000’s saw an evidently profound shift in the way that the majority of professional football teams laid out their starting eleven. The days of the traditional 4-4-2 formation, with ‘two bags of four’ and two strikers, were becoming a distant memory, and a more possession based midfield three, coupled with a lone ‘target-man’ leading the line, was coming to light. More and more of Europe’s elite clubs were adopting the 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 approach, using at least one midfielder with a more defensive mind set, breaking up opposition attacks and allowing the more creative players freedom to play offensively, Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal side included. WRITERS:...
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